Geoff Calkins: Young Tigers unpredictable thrill a minute

Memphis' Joe Jackson drives to the basket while defended by LSU's Andre Stringer.

TUPELO, Miss. -- Let the record show that Payten Pastner is undefeated as a Memphis basketball fan. The bouncing baby girl attended her first college game Sunday and watched as her father's Tigers beat the LSU Tigers, 70-61.

"She has a better winning percentage than her father," said Josh Pastner, beaming like the proud papa he happens to be.

Josh is now 28-10.

Payten is now 1-0.

Whoever said that winning is hard?

OK, that was her father. The one leaping for joy one moment and leaping out of frustration the next. The one whose life is defined by kiddos, at home and at work.

"Youth is unpredictable," said Pastner, and ain't that the truth?

By way of evidence, look no further than Sunday's wild and wacky game at the birthplace of Payten's winning streak.

All of Memphis seemed to make the commute to the Bancorp South Arena, a converted mall that was jammed full with 7,941 spectators.

Roughly 7,936 of them were cheering for Memphis. There were so few LSU fans, the crowd booed them, individually, when any happened to wander in.

The freshman were brilliant. And brutal. And fabulous. And frustrating. And mesmerizing. And infuriating. And you getting the general idea here?

"We're young," said Pastner, who said variations of this 17 different times in his postgame remarks.

It happens to be true. But just don't take my word for it.

"We're freshmen," said Black. "We're a handful. What people don't know is how crazy we are off the court."

Yes, Black himself said this. If anyone out there has started a when-will-Pastner-get-gray-hairs pool, put me down for January.

Remember when Wesley Witherspoon was the immature one, the kid who needed to do some growing up? Now he sits at his locker and rolls his eyes.

"It all looks so familiar out there," he said.

So there was Joe Jackson, opening the game in complete control, finding teammates for open 3s.

And there was Joe Jackson, when Memphis seemed poised to run away with the game, trying to thread a one-handed pass that went back the other way.

There was Chris Crawford, missing every open look, muddling through an 0-for-5 first half.

And there was Chris Crawford, coming out in the second half and flat lighting it up.

That's the best part of all this. For all their flaws, the kids are really good. Young talent is still talent. It beats the alternative.

Jackson righted himself and converted a huge 3-point play when LSU drew close. Then he found Crawford for a clutch 3-pointer -- Crawford's third of the half -- to break a 57-57 tie and put Memphis up for good.